


The Edge of Love

by totallyrhettro



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Almost Kiss, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Animated GIFs, Best Friends, Buddy System, Drabble, Falling In Love, Ficlet, First Kiss, Happy endings guaranteed, Kissing, M/M, Present Tense, closeness, rhink, scared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-20 19:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17028795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyrhettro/pseuds/totallyrhettro
Summary: Slightly spoilery if you haven't seenBuddy System, episode 5So, I wrote a bit of drabble based off of something that happened while filming Buddy System.





	1. In The Box

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway, this is just a bit of drabble that leaked out of my brain from staring at this image for far too long.
> 
>  
> 
>   
> 

Link shifts his weight and Rhett groans in discomfort. Link is a full grown man and most of his weight is now pressing down onto his friend. It can’t really be helped, but he does his best to make it at least bearable for his friend. He moves his hand to the side of Rhett’s head, to hold himself up and help alleviate some of the burden. As he gets closer, he sees the other man’s green eyes glance down for just a second.  


It’s dark, but Link knows what he saw. He brings up his other hand, mostly on impulse, and places it on the other side of Rhett’s head. A strange silence fills the box; there is no one near by to see them, busy with things in the outside world. No one would ever know. 

Slowly, Link places his palm on Rhett’s face, cupping his jaw and cheek gently. His fingers are shaking, but they stop once they feel Rhett in their grasp. For a moment he just holds him there, waiting, testing. Wondering. Rhett doesn’t speak, also waiting. Waiting to see what Link will do, how far he would dare go.

Link’s blue eyes flicker down to glance at Rhett’s lips. So close. Too close. He moves forward just a millimeter; there’s not much room to hesitate. Looking deep into Rhett’s emerald eyes he searches for an answer he’s too afraid to ask aloud, but Rhett doesn’t say a word. He can’t. He can’t even breathe.

Another millimeter and Link’s lips just brush against Rhett’s. Not a kiss. He barely even touches them, but it’s enough to feel the softness, the tingling of skin on skin. Rhett licks his lip unconsciously. He can taste the peanut butter peppermint lip balm that Link always uses. He’s used it too, of course, but it’s different when coming from someone else’s mouth. From Link’s mouth.

Then Link pulls back. A shiver of fear shoots through his body. Has he gone too far? Has he ruined everything? It had been an impulse, a strange and stupid instinct, and now he doesn’t know what to do. Still Rhett doesn’t speak. He feels frozen in shock, he’s too scared to move. There’s fear in his eyes, but also something else. All Link sees is the fear and he turns his head away, letting go of his friend’s face. He can’t look now. It was too much. Too much.

Rhett swallows. Suddenly he can feel his heart again, thudding in his chest. Feel air moving through his lungs, warm and ragged. When he speaks, his voice is low and quiet. 

“Link…” he begins, and for a second the air is thick with tension. 

“Got it!” comes a voice. It’s someone in the crew. “You guys ready to try the line again?” 

“Yeah,” Link calls out. He remembers why they are here, what they are supposed to be doing.  A face comes down to look in the box and Rhett nods in agreement as he shifts a bit, trying to get more comfortable. In moments he’s back to being focused, back in character. Whatever just happened is momentarily forgotten to be dealt with later.

If ever.


	2. In the Box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link can’t stop thinking about what happened in that box. Rhett has a plan to break the tension.

Link was pacing back and forth. He kept playing those few seconds back in his head, over and over. Those precious few seconds that had felt like an eternity, and had to power to ruin the rest of his life.  


The rest of their lives.

There had been no conscience thought, no deliberate action. Rhett’s face was suddenly so close and something inside Link had told him to-

‘ _What?_ ’ he demanded to himself, pausing in his tracks. ‘ _What did you think was going to happen?_ ’ Whatever action that his foolish movements were leading to, it couldn’t be towards anything good. First of all, they were in public. Despite the illusion of solitude, any number of people could have walked by and found them in there. They were set up to be filmed, for christ’s sake. And even if no one caught them, what then? What possible good could such actions lead to? 

No. It was for the best that nothing happened. It was good that they were interrupted before things got out of hand. Although, thinking back on those few seconds, perhaps it was too late. Their lips had brushed, just barely but enough. Rhett had to know it wasn’t an accident. He had to have seen the look in Link’s eye, the desire to go further.

‘ _He’ll hate me,_ ’ Link told himself. ‘ _He’ll hate me and be disgusted by me._ ’ Frankly, he was a bit disgusted by himself for his stupidity and his mental lapse. Now the great life that he and Rhett had built up together for years could be torn away. His lifelong friendship could be over, and for what? A single kiss? For one brief moment of happiness? Was that worth losing Rhett?

Link had spent the rest of the day filming, pretending nothing had happened. Rhett appeared to do the same, and they got through it without any problems, but now the day was over. The crew had all gone home. All that was left was to drive back to their separate homes and forget those precious few seconds in the box had never happened. That’s all there was to it.

Then why did it feel like it was easier said than done?

Suddenly Rhett stormed in, his face a bit pinker than usual and his jaw set like a man on a mission. He strode across the room to where Link stood, frozen on the spot. His dirty blond hair was a bit out of sorts and there was a hint of crazy in his eyes, but all Link felt was fear. Was this it? Was this the end of their friendship?

“Okay, just hear me out,” Rhett began, holding his hands out as he laid out a plan. “I think… I think we should kiss.”

“W-what?” Link took a step back, as if slapped by some unseen force. He blinked hard, wondering if he was just imaging Rhett here, now, suggesting such a thing. There was no way he was saying what Link thought he heard him say.

“I- I just… I can’t stand this stupid tension around us, since the… the box…” Rhett explained. “It’s been weighing on my head and it’s driving me crazy. Now I don’t… _know_ exactly what happened but… I think that we should kiss and…” He searched Link’s eyes, looking for understanding, or maybe something else, but Link couldn’t talk. His mouth felt drier than the Mohave desert and his voice was nowhere to be found. Rhett ran a shaky hand through his hair before continuing. “Well, whatever, we’ll kiss, and it’ll be weird and then it will be over. It’ll be weird and then we’ll know.” Link licked his lips, trying to bring moisture to the desert.

“Know what?” he managed. Rhett shrugged.

“We’ll know there was nothing to dwell on.” So that’s it. It was a question of spark. That’s all it was. A kiss to prove they didn’t want to kiss. A kiss to prove they were nothing but friends. It was an elegant solution, if unorthodox, but then, that made it all the more _them_. Link quickly nodded, agreeing completely. He needed to know, needed to make sure it had been a passing thought, a fleeting impulse and nothing more. He was certain Rhett was right. They would kiss, and it would be gross and awkward; they’d probably laugh about it later, but it then would be over. Then they could go back to normal.

Neither was sure were to begin. They stood, toe to toe, arms at their sides and just stared at each other for the longest time. Link stared at his friend's plaid shirt, unable to look the man in the face. Rhett’s eyes were down at Link’s head, noting how many of the dark hairs were out of place, more than usual for Link. He must have been just as distracted as Rhett to let his hair get so messy.

“It’ll be quick,” he assured him. Link looked up, meeting those green eyes with his own soft cerulean gaze. Eyes that he had known for almost his whole life, yet barely knew. Eyes that dazzled in the sunshine and never grew dull in the dark. They could be the most brilliant green, or cloudy grey, or even a subtle blue, but they always had a shine about them, a light that somehow came from within. Link had noticed them countless times without noticing, and now he couldn’t look away. He could only nod.

Locked in place, Link watched as Rhett stepped closer, nervous but determined. He tried to look scientific, calculating, as if this no more than an experiment, and not anything else. Not an excuse to-

“Rhett…” Link breathed. Rhett ignored him, placing his broad palms on sides of Link’s shoulders and holding them gently but firmly. His little tongue peeked out from his bushy beard for just a moment as he prepared his lips for contact. As he leaned down, he tilted his head to the side so their noses wouldn't get in the way, and Link lifted his head so he could more easily reach. It was instinct; his neck craned before he could even begin to understand what he was doing. He needed this. Deep in his subconscious he _needed_ this, for more reasons than those Rhett had proposed, and in the far recesses of his mind he wanted this. Wanted to make this moment happen. That part of his brain that hesitantly caressed Rhett in the box not a few hours ago, it was rejoicing, but Link couldn’t hear. All he could hear was his heart pounding his his ears, and the short, ragged breaths he was trying to keep steady.

“Hold still,” Rhett whispered, his voice lighter than wind. Link couldn't have moved if he’d tried; he was nailed to the spot, unable and unwilling to break the spell that was being cast on this surreal moment. Rhett moved almost in slow motion as he brought their faces closer until finally they were as close as they had been in the box. Agonizingly close. It was an agony Link knew all too well and suddenly he remembered it had always been there. There, in those moments when Rhett got too close, when they sat next to one another at the GMM desk, when sketches and wheel endings brought their heads to almost touching, it was there. An agony of close and yet so far away. Link knew it, and he hated it. Suddenly he remembered that he hated it. Hated it and wanted it to end. There was only one way to kill it.

He couldn’t be sure who closed the final gap between them, if it was Rhett with his calculating stance and his tentative movements. Maybe it was Link, shaking off those last shreds of delusion and accepting at long last that he had wanted this a long time ago, he’d just been afraid to take it. Whether for love or sanity, their lips at last pressed together, and it was a mess of sensation and emotion for both of them.

Rhett’s beard was a bit scratchy, but not unpleasant, definitely not like the clean shaven faces of girls that Link had kissed before. The man’s lips, nestled inside, were soft and plump. Despite him often noting how small his mouth was, Rhett’s lips didn’t feel small as they wrapped themselves around Link’s. It started with just placement, but then they caressed themselves into place, like a puzzle piece finding its home. More than anywhere this was there they belonged.

Link welcomed it without reservation, his own mouth eager and compliant. He took Rhett’s kiss willingly, letting him press in without a hint of rejection. The scruff of his day old beard was more tantalizing than harsh and Rhett couldn’t help but move his lips over the rough skin as his lips found their way around this new mouth. Tasting what he never realized he wanted to taste. Feeling what he never would have admitted he desired to feel.

It was supposed to be a chaste kiss, a peck to break the tension, but in the silence of the office, where reality and fantasy could actually collide, Rhett no longer cared for his tenuous reasons for doing this. He lifted a hand to Link’s jaw, cupping it gently as he turned to find a new angle and kiss again. Link didn’t pull back, or object, but turned with him, extending the moment as long as he could. His hands clung to Rhett’s shirt, pulling him closer. Outside in the real world, when this was all over, things might be different. He feared this was a brief reprieve from the truth of their lives. That this couldn’t be. This could never be. Yet in that kiss there was another story, another truth. 

Rhett was lost. He didn’t know, couldn’t know that he was in the same mist that had enveloped Link in that box. It turned his brain to automatic and was now swirling around to envelope his mind. Moving without thought, only doing what his body knew, Rhett breathed deep, inhaling the scent of his best friend as he never had before. How had he never realized how much he loved this smell? It was so subtle, so barely there, like a fading aroma after a storm. It wasn’t new; he’d smelled it almost all of his life. It smelled like days by the river, and nights under the stars. It smelled like Buies Creek. It smelled like home.

But they weren’t home. They were in an office, in Los Angeles, in a studio building filled with the life they had created over the course of many years. It was a life they had worked hard to put together, spending time, energy, blood and sweat to make it what it was today. People depended on its existence, and it was selfish to throw it away for this moment. As the universe came back into Rhett’s periphery, he opened his eyes. He hadn’t even noticed he’d closed them. Link’s eyes were closed too, his eyelashes delicately fluttering. So beautiful.

‘ _What have I done?_ ’ Rhett pulled away, their lips parting with an audible smack. Link looked up at him, unquestioning, unjudging, just open and waiting. Waiting for his friend’s conclusion. What shall it be? Was tension broken, or had they made it worse? Was this passing foolishness or something more? 

Did Rhett want it to be more?

Rhett turned and straightened out the hairs on his beard, scratching his chin in an effort to hide they way his fingertips were exploring his own lips. Link had kissed these lips. Link. _Kissed_. It had been Rhett’s idea, but he never really expected him to agree, nor for him to melt into it like it was more than welcome. Rhett. _Kissed_. Kissed his best friend and, even though he didn’t want to say it, he had enjoyed it. He thought maybe it was because he liked kissing, and it could have been anybody, but that wasn’t true. Glancing back at the face he had known for so many years and yet never knew, Rhett realized what the truth was. A truth that Link must have also known, or he wouldn’t have tried anything back in that box. 

They could be more than friends.

And they both wanted it to be real.


End file.
